


the moon is tidally locked

by chemicalflashes



Series: transatlantic barrier [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Headcanon, Kitagawa Daiichi, M/M, Memory Related, Oikawa pls your yearning is showing, Reminiscing, Tobio-chan lives rent free in his mind, kinda angsty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-11
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-17 10:33:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29348982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chemicalflashes/pseuds/chemicalflashes
Summary: He remembers the day it happened, he just doesn't think too much about it. (That's a lie.) Tooru Oikawa wants to forget one entire day of his life. Just this one. But it continues to endure in his mind.Or, how Oikawa got that ankle injury before the practice match with Karasuno.
Relationships: Kageyama Tobio/Oikawa Tooru
Series: transatlantic barrier [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2155842
Comments: 6
Kudos: 53





	the moon is tidally locked

**Author's Note:**

> This wasn't supposed to be my first published Haikyuu fanfic but something came over me at 4 AM and I wrote a whole [Twitter thread](https://twitter.com/chemicalflashes/status/1359646391480455169?s=19) that finally became this story.
> 
> Tidal locking is a phenomenon in which an astronomical body always has the same face toward the object it is orbiting.
> 
> This idea as a whole comes from my headcanon that Oikawa unknowingly actually scarred Kageyama's face when he lost it back in middle school.

Tooru remembers the day it happened, he just doesn't think too much about it. (That's a lie; Iwa-chan would call him out for overthinking if he said it aloud.)

There had been two stray cats loitering around the food bowl he always left outside his house for them and the daisies on the pavement were wilting. The stars had been scant that night, faded away by the brilliance of the full moon.

And he had tried to hit Tobio Kageyama.

A week before it, he had been subbed out of a practice match and replaced by Kageyama of all people. Kageyama was the last person he wanted to take his place. He hated — no, still hates, that boy. But...

Tooru is well aware he crossed the line that day.

He just...he just wants to forget about it. Why isn't that easy?

Twin deep-blue irises shine in his mind as he looks at Seijoh's empty volleyball court. He has always loved the colour blue but after all these years he has come to despise the shade of it that rests in Tobio-chan's eyes. Those eyes had always screamed iridescence at his face back then...before it happened.

He knows his nail had nicked the boy's cheek before Hajime was able to snatch his hand away; knows the exact path where his finger had gone over. He can probably trace it over in his sleep.

Just after the incident he had been barely able to speak. And while he'll never admit it to Kageyama, he realises his apology had been too low, too hushed and too hurried. He hadn't even looked at his face while murmuring it. 

Ugh, he really doesn't think about Tobio-chan this much but the practice match with Karasuno is in two days and he has specifically requested their club in-charge to make Kageyama the starter. So of course he's thinking about him. Tooru hits the ball.

He had tried looking very closely at his face the next day, just to be sure he hadn't really injured him but there hadn't been anything. Just the same old Tobio-chan being crazy about volleyball and jumping around with Kunimi and Kindachi.

Except it really hadn't been 'the same old', had it? There's an ache in his right knee and he should probably stop practising at this very moment before it escalates, but the ball hits just outside the line. Once more, then. Always once more.

He wonders if he should apologise to Tobio-chan once more. Because...

He isn't exactly sure how he had realised it, but Kageyama suddenly lost his constant radiance around him and while it did sometimes come back on Hajime's gentle reminders of, "It's fine, you can ask your senpais for help," while glaring at Tooru, it had been in bits and pieces and always incomplete.

Almost like...something finally broke inside of him. And it was only around Tooru.

He slips. The jump is offbeat but he realises this too late and he slips. In the slow motion vision that people sometimes get just before a major accident, Tooru sees the bright overhead lights become the blue of Tobio-chan's eyes. Right, he is losing it again. 

His ankle twists roughly on impact and he stumbles gracelessly into a fall. His muscles are throbbing. Maybe this is a sign that he should try talking with Kageyama. Maybe this is the beginning of a series of punishments. He rubs his leg and the angry muscles cool down a bit.

Thankfully, he doesn't seem to have a sprain, but this probably warrants a visit to the doctor, given his already weakened knee. Maybe they'll make him sit out the practice match. That will be the second punishment in this series. 

Tooru breathes in, closes his eyes and sprawls out on the wooden floor. It's 9 PM and he wonders. He wonders about the last time he saw Tobio Kageyama angry in person. He doesn't want to wonder but his mind refuses, like every other time when it comes to this boy. 

He won't count the match Kitaiichi lost under Kageyama's setting; he hadn't really been in front of him and that boundless anger hadn't been directed at him, anyway.

Maybe he is wondering this because he'll probably be met only with anger if he tries apologising now, after what seems like an eternity. The last time he had seen Tobio angry at him had been the first and only one.

(How is it only once? He probably deserves a repeat every day, given...what he tried to do...)

"No, I won't teach you how to serve. Not today and not ever!" he had declared when the boy approached him on his graduation day. The pack of tissues that Tobio had given him two weeks ago at the awards ceremony had rustled silently and traitorously in his gakuran's left pocket.

The thin line of the boy's lips had quickly turned into a displeased frown. "I wasn't going to ask that of you, Oikawa-sa — senpai." And then his eyes were blazing and then he was so near that Tooru had reflexively jerked back. He had never seen him so angry at anything.

"In fact, I'll never ask that of you again. I'll beat you one day," he heard distantly over the blood roaring in his ears. And then, Tobio had turned around, presumably to walk away. Tooru had been shaken by his outburst. Quiet, docile Tobio-chan had just walked all over him and he had let him. Then —

"Nobody has ever been consistent enough to show me just one side of theirs. Except, maybe the moon," he had said suddenly, his lips moving on their own. "But of course, you won't get it."

("Make amends," his mind had deliberated, "this will probably be your last proper chance," but his mouth just went on and on by itself and squashed its quivering reasoning.)

And then Tobio had turned around. He sees it clearly even now in his head just like he had that day. The boy's eyes had been narrowed and for some reason, his hand was on his cheek.

"The moon is tidally locked. I read about it because of the school play. You're smart, Oikawa-senpai. You're probably the smartest person I know. And I know I'm a dumbass but I do know how to read when I try it."

And before he could have done anything or said anything, Tobio had run away.

"You idiot," he had wanted to say, "that wasn't about the moon, really."

In present time, cicadas chirp outside in the cool, summer air. Sweat pools on his face.

"Sorry," he tells the ceiling now. The lights fade away.

**Author's Note:**

> > [ Lmao, he's so proud of himself for playing the moon in the school play.](https://youtu.be/buYti-xH3bw)  
> 
> 
> Come find me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/chemicalflashes?s=09) where I rant about Oikage amidst other anime stuff.


End file.
